Pakistan establishes Central Debt Management Office on IMF condition ahead of loan review

ISLAMABAD – Cash-strapped Pakistan has established a Central Debt Management Office in light of stern conditions demanded by the International Monetary Fund.

The latest move comes as the global lender shared lists of prerequisite actions and gave a timeframe of three weeks to authorities concerned for implementing all demands ahead of talks on the halted loan programme.

In a notification, the Ministry of Finance confirmed setting up the Central Debt Management Office which aimed at chalking out strategy to manage debt and deal with payments-related problems.

The ministry also mentioned that the latest initiative will help in keeping records of state-run facilities in one place.

Lately, the Washington-based lender linked the revival of stalled loan programme of the cash-strapped country with the completion of all prerequisites within a month time.

The new prerequisite tabled by the global lender includes additional taxation measures and pursuing structural reforms in the remaining period of the Fund program, per reports.

The visit of the IMF monitoring mission has been delayed amid the differences between two sides on fiscal consolidation and its actual decisions, which is increasing Islamabad’s balance of payments difficulties.